A documentary to be screened next Sunday will air suspicions that
British intelligence had advance knowledge of an IRA attack in Holland,
in which two Australian tourists died, but failed to stop it.

Stephan Melrose and Nick Spanos were shot dead by an IRA unit, who
mistook them for British soldiers, in Roermond 20 years ago. This month
the Melrose family visited Holland and Ireland in their quest to find
answers about the murders.

Award-winning investigative journalist Ross Coulthart accompanied them
and his programme will be screened on Australia’s Channel Seven. It
includes a confrontation between the reporter and Sinn Fein President
Gerry Adams.

Coulthart said: “Just after the shooting, an Australian source with good
links to British intelligence suggested to me that the British had
details of the IRA cell operating in Europe, that they had information
on its key members, and that they could possibly have stopped the
attack. This is supported by ex-British agents we’ve interviewed.”

There is speculation that at least one, and possibly more, members of
the IRA team in Europe were informers. Coulthart claimed that
information from British intelligence sources also suggested that, at
the most senior level, one in two IRA leaders at the time were British
agents.

“The question must be asked whether two Australians were sacrificed to
protect informants in the IRA,” he said.